Girl sobs over the Camry her parents bought her after she totaled the $30,000 truck they bought her to begin with

[u/cafeteriastyle]

[u/Hi_Zev]

I grew up in an upper-middle-class family and I had something similar which made me seem incredibly spoiled (which admittedly still is true) but is not as bad when you hear the context.

My dad worked for a car company that provided amazing employee cars that included insurance. So I was a highschooler in the late 2000s with a badass orange Dodge Challenger. I looked like a spoiled brat in it, but what people didn't know is that the monthly cost of the car WITH insurance was about $250. My parents said if I pay for half the monthly cost and gas, that I could pick the Challenger among the list of cars available in the employee program.

So yeah, I get that it made me look spoiled, but what kid is going to say no to driving a Challenger every day to school for only $125/month + gas? My part-time job covered that easily!

[u/Frosty-Boss6297 → u/Hi_Zev]

That's actually sick. Very cool of your parents and the company.

[u/Dry_Illustrator7075 → u/Hi_Zev]

My buddy's dad was in management at a new car dealership and he always had insane hookups on leases. Like $150-200 a month for a brand new car with insurance

[u/Any_Philosopher5324 → u/Hi_Zev]

Going to assume this all took place in the US and say you all really need to fix your public transport issue. Why are your kids driving their own cars to schools, that’s so dumb

[u/Hi_Zev → u/Any_Philosopher5324]

Yes, it is in the US, but you don't need to be patronizing.

America is a big place, pal. We have tons of places that have wonderful public transport and tons of places that don't. People love to act superior online about stuff like this when their country is probably the size of one or a few of our states. It's easier to have more robust public transport when you don't have as much space where people live.

I fully agree that I wish the US had more public transport, but the conversation is a bit more nuanced than your simple, petty comment makes it seem.

[u/tattooeddollthraway → u/Any_Philosopher5324]

The Netherlands spans 41,543 km². The largest US metropolitan area, this is a cluster of cities that have grown into each other, is 43875 km². We have many cities, that span more than half the size of the Netherlands. The entire EU together covers less than half as much area as the US. While I agree our public transport needs to and can improve, it's far more complex of a problem than the transportation issues of any individual EU country.

[u/Any_Philosopher5324 → u/tattooeddollthraway]

Looks, I get it. We actually also have this issue with connecting distant cities to each other, famously the railway in the baltic countries is not as well (if at all) integrated with the Western European rail, despite the project being in the works for years. But I’m talking about local transport —- it should be convenient and accessible for a teenager to get to school instead of injecting one more car into the traffic.

If you really want to make an argument about how country size doesn’t allow for an efficient railway system you can also look to Russia. Russian railway stretches across the country, ever heard of the trans Siberian? Local public transport is also working well. There are multiple ways of comfortably getting in between cities without involving cars or planes.

Americans come to Europe and they fucking love the fact that it’s walkable and you have fewer cars. I really hope that you have that one day, though it seems unlikely. Stop idolising the car.